High School's Not So Bad
by Raingoddess400
Summary: Leo was never fond of school ever since he entered middle school, thus decided to make his days in the boredom hole interesting by doing pranks. Now in high school, the pranks continue even when he gets a new teacher, whom is interesting to say the least. (One-Shot)


**(A/n: It's been a long while since I last did an HTF fic, been doing nothing but South Park fics (Which you can check out if you want to) because my first HTF story was tooo cringey lol But any's this is a human AU one-shot, Shifty and Lifty's names are Shane and Leo, and will always be in human AU's (Which will be all the time lol) Splendid's will remain the same cuz I think it's a unique name and I like it, though he will have a last name.**

**Please enjoy. Happy Tree Friends does not belong to me)**

* * *

Leo has a lot of colorful words to describe how he absolutely hates school. Ever since Elementary, he no longer saw any purpose of continuing school. Perhaps this way of thinking is the fault of his teachers back in middle school - or more precisely, his _own_ fault.

Although he detests waking up early every weekday morning to leave the comfort of home, Leo and his twin were actually pretty smart, however they weren't your typical nerds or even good, well behaved boys. No, they were the total opposite of those. Leo can't remember exactly when, but some teachers referred to them as 'devilish troublemakers', and that name stuck with them even to this day. Instead of using their smarts for good causes - most of the time - they'd rather use it for tricking and pranking people. The adults included. It was their way of spicing up their dull school life, not caring in the slightest of the risk of suspension or even expulsion.

Yawning loudly enough to disrupt the lesson, Leo continues to stare out of the window right next to him on his left in pure boredom, having long since drowned out his teacher's voice that had stopped momentarily.

"_Leo Evergreen!_"

The sharp call of his full name forces the greenette out of his thoughts, but with the lack of a reaction. With his head still resting against his cheek, Leo slides his honey-yellow eyes to the front of the classroom, meeting the calm smile on the man's face, his eyes closed behind red-rimmed glasses. "I apologize for my life-draining way of teaching, but please at least look like you're paying attention."

Leo smiles faintly, then focuses his attention back to the cloud-filled blue sky. "Tell that to everyone else, _at least_ I'm still up."

The man looks away opening his eyes, revealing and narrowing his azure colored orbs. "Wake up right now!" His slightly raised voice stirred those that were asleep awake with a jolt and a groan. He then states that they're doing a pop quiz as punishment, fully waking the drowsy teenagers.

Leo chuckles. It's always funny to see Mr. Sumner, who's always so happy and composed lose that expression. It shows that even he can get mad at times.

Once again paying no attention to the order to leave only a few sheets of paper and a pencil out on their desk to begin their quiz, Leo thinks back to when the man first became their teacher.

***One Month Ago***

"Due to an 'accident', you're previous teacher will be spending quite a while in the hospital. They also quit as a result." Most of the students burst out laughing, two greenettes high-fiving each other only to quickly be silenced. "Show some respect you rude little-" The Principal stopped himself from spewing out words he'd regret, he took a deep breath then proceeded talking. "Anyway you all will be receiving a new teacher. Poor guy..." He muttered the last part under his breath. He looked over to the side, giving the person standing in the hallway an apologetic smile. "You may come in." He inched over a little as the individual entered the classroom, walking in was a human blueberry. His hair, eyes, suit, tie, and even his shoes were nothing but blue! The only things that weren't a similar color were his dress shirt and glasses. "Please welcome Mr. Splendid Sumner."

Disregarding the faint snickering, Splendid shot his students a warm smile. "Hello class, pleased meet you all. Let's get along well this semester."

Two people snorted, both smirking mischievously. "Yeah sure, we'll get along reaaally well. Won't we bro?" Shane glanced over to the seat on his left, Leo snickering and nodding his head in response.

While Splendid looked oblivious to what the twins were plotting, the Principal caught on to it instantly. "Shane, Leo, you two better not pull another stunt like last time or you'll be out of school permanently!" Hearing that piqued Splendid's curiosity, he watched as one of the green haired teens wearing a fedora stifled a laugh while his brother rolled his eyes, seemingly unperturbed by the Principal's threat. Splendid felt as though these two might make his stay here not so pleasant, but it wouldn't be anything new. Thanks to his past job as being a temporary teacher, for both middle and high schools, he'd dealt with misbehaved students before. As annoying as it was, he'd endured it all with nothing but a smile and utter positivity. Surely it would work here as well, knowing that they won't be able to get under his skin so easily would make them lose interest and behave themselves. The idea lifted the heavy pressure that was nestling inside Splendid's chest.

A sigh from the Principal drew his attention towards him, feeling a bit bad at the drained and nervous expression on the brunette's face. Splendid curled his lips into a smile, to show that he's not intimidated nor will he ever be by the twins. "You don't have to worry Principal Rogers, I'll be fine."

Principal Rogers wasn't put at ease. "I can't help but worry every time it concerns those two, which is damn near all the time!" He sighed again, then bid Splendid farewell, giving him some words of encouragement Splendid thought the man needed himself before leaving the room. He shut the door behind him.

For the first two weeks, the twins decided to let Mr. Sumner grow used to the class, giving him the false impression that they were simply smart boys. However they were unaware that their teacher maintained a sturdy wall, not once did he forget the statement said from Principal Rogers. He may never looked it, but he was always prepared whenever he stepped foot into the classroom.

When Leo and Shane commenced their first prank the following week, starting off with something light and easy, the accustomed end result never happened. Much to their shock.

Upon walking in, Mr. Sumner greeted his students with a bright smile as he made his way over to his desk. Eager grins were plastered across the twins' faces, their eyes observing the man's every move as to not miss his reaction to the unknown. They got ready to laugh once Mr. Sumner bent his knees in preparation to sit down in his chair, and once he did he faced his computer monitor with an undeterred smile. He then stated that he was going to call the roll.

Leo and Shane blinked once, then twice, greatly confused by the lack of a reaction from the man.

Shane leaned over a little bit towards his brother's desk. "What the hell man? I thought you put super glue in his chair," he whispered.

Leo dismissed his twin's slightly annoyed tone with the wave of his hand. "I did," he whispered back. "But relax, he might not think it's a big deal now, but wait until he tries to get up." They both snickered.

Mr. Sumner spent the whole class period at his desk. He didn't even make any attempts to get up neither did he show any signs of discomfort. Leo and Shane were disappointed to say the least, they couldn't make him budge even when they, along with some of their classmates baited him to. He simply stayed put in his chair.

"Dude is hella crazy," Shane said in disbelief. He and Leo were heading home for the day, as well as the rest of the students and some staff. "Who the hell would sit in glue for over 2 hours?"

"Looks like someone's spendin' the night in school," Leo shrugged smiling at the thought.

Shane gave a short laugh. "Damn, I actually feel bad for him now."

"Psh, his fault for not standing up. I'd rather get laughed at than stay the whole day in school." Leo shuddered as Shane laughed again.

The next day Mr. Sumner wore a different attire, though the color remained the same. Despite what happened yesterday, he greeted everyone as usual with a smile, the look morphing into a hesitant frown however when he looked down in his chair. Seeing that there's nothing on it, the corners of his lips returned upward and he sat down.

His swift change in expression didn't go unnoticed by Leo, who then wondered if their prank had actually unnerved the man. Leo developed a new plan from that, and informed Shane via a note. What Leo now had in mind was to scar Mr. Sumner by...—

"Leo!"

This time Leo flinches, so absorbed in his reminiscing that he'd forgotten that he was still in class. Sighing softly, he sits back to look at his teacher, who is smiling at him with clear traces of annoyance on his face. Leo almost laughs.

"You're staying after school for detention."

Leo slumps back against his chair with a groan, pouting faintly at Shane outright laughing at him.

Asshole.

* * *

Fortunately for Leo, school went by swiftly. Shane bids him a comical goodbye which grates his nerves, and shoots him the bird as he makes his way out of the school. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Leo turns around and walks to Mr. Sumner's classroom, conversing with some friends along the way. One tries to get him to ditch, and he was just about to go through with it until someone clears their throat. Leo and his friends look to see Mr. Sumner with his arms crossed standing beside his classroom as it's being emptied out.

Cursing his luck with a loud sigh, Leo gives his laughing friends the bird also as they take their leave.

Once everyone is out, both Leo and Mr. Sumner walk into the classroom, the man closing the door behind him to reduce the volume of the voices in the hallway. Leo walks and sits down in a random seat, slouching his upper body on top of the cool surface of the desk with a groan. He so badly wants to go home, maybe he can coax his way into leaving somehow...Nah Mr. Sumner won't fall for it so Leo won't even bother.

Speaking of the bluenette, Leo rests his chin on the desk to see his teacher hunched over by the computer at his desk.

"Is everything okay?"

The sudden question takes Leo aback, he quirks an eyebrow. "Yeah why?"

After clicking on the mouse a few times, Mr. Sumner straightens up and turns to face Leo, the teen noticing the absence of a smile on his face. Leo can't help but think that the bluenette's face can finally relax now. Smiling constantly ain't easy, and Leo wonders why he always does it. It's been a nagging curiosity for quite some time now.

"You've been daydreaming all day. If you have something on your mind, you can tell me."

Leo blinks in shock, but then sits up waving him off. "No way I'm tellin' you all the pranks I've got in store for you." Mr. Sumner fails to stop a smile from appearing as he shakes his head. "Why do you always smile? You got some kinda disease in your mouth or somethin'?"

Mr. Sumner chuckles. "No it's nothing like that. It's just a mere habit I can't grow out of." Before Leo can question him some more, he turns back to his desk to grab a stack of papers. He takes them to where Leo is sitting, and sets them down in front of him. "You're gonna help me grade you guys' pop quiz."

Leo stares at the papers blankly in disbelief while his teacher grabs a nearby chair. "You're joking..."

Mr. Sumner sits down at the other end of Leo's desk. "Do this and I'll replace the 0 you have since you were too busy daydreaming to do your own quiz."

Leo frowns awkwardly. "Fine," he huffs reaching into his pants pocket for his pen.

Before starting, Splendid takes half of the papers and leaves the other half for Leo, then sets an answer sheet in between them. Leo places a paper from his stack in front of him, looks it over and starts putting 'X' marks on some of the questions.

"Grade them correctly please," Mr. Sumner orders nicely, not looking up from the paper he's grading.

Leo rolls his eyes, but does as told, scribbling the x's on the questions that were actually right and replacing them with check marks. While working, a random yet inquisitive question pops up in Leo's head.

"Why do you like blue so much?"

The man blinks, stopping what he's doing to give the teen a peculiar look at his query. "Why the sudden interest in knowing?"

"Cuz it's boring as hell doing nothing but grading these stupid papers," Leo practically grumbles, setting the finished quiz aside and grabbing a new one. "Plus I actually wanna know. I bet your whole house and everything inside it is blue too."

Resuming his work, Mr. Sumner smiles in amusement. "You got me there."

Leo stops and gawks at him. "No way it is?!" Then he laughs. "You're freakin' obsessed with that color."

"I was joking," Mr. Sumner rolls his eyes, still smiling. "I may like blue, but I wouldn't go so far as to paint my house and decorate it in that color from head to toe."

Leo looks unconvinced. "Uh huh. Your hair and eyes natural?"

"Yes, dying my hair and wearing contacts aren't my thing."

"Psh, I bet you never tried 'em. You'd only change their shade anyway to somethin' like dark blue or light blue."

Mr. Sumner rolls his eyes again. "C'mon, let's hurry and finish up so we can get outta here."

"Yeah, yeah Mr. Blueberry." Leo snickers at the nickname, Mr. Sumner cringes at it. "I actually wanted to call you that ever since you came here, it def suits you."

"If you make the whole class call me that, I'll assign you all a project to do over the break."

Leo pales. "Okay jeez, you didn't need to go that far."

"Yeah, says the prankster who hospitalized his previous teacher last month," Mr. Sumner huffs. Leo chuckles. "Why do you and your brother prank people anyway? And how are you both still continuing school with the notorious reputation you have?" He suddenly stops moving his pen, frowning. "It honestly baffles me, you're both intelligent yet you do immature antics that greatly effect your future and opportunities to get into a good college-"

"Save it teach," Leo interjects, looking up from the paper he'd just finished grading to meet his teacher's concerned gaze. "Just to let you know, we don't really care about college. Mainly cuz once we graduate from here, we'll be done with school completely. And besides, just cuz we're smart doesn't mean college is meant for us. We'll be fine without going."

Mr. Sumner deepens his frown. "But what about your parents?"

"Dunno," Leo says indifferently, shrugging one arm. He goes back to grading the remaining quiz papers from his stack. "They died a long time ago." That statement alone puts an end to further discussion on the topic.

Guilt crosses over on Mr. Sumner's features. "I-I see. I'm sorry," he mutters softly, then resumes grading.

Leo shrugs again. "But anyway, to answer your question as to why me and my bro do pranks, it's to cure boredom."

Mr. Sumner stops once again, making a face that shows he doesn't understand such a reason. He doesn't voice his question, hoping Leo would answer from just looking at his face alone. But the greenette seems to be too focused on the paper he's grading to look away from it, even though he feels his gaze boring into him.

_"Seems he doesn't want to explain any further," _Mr. Sumner assumes, and he doesn't push his student into telling him. Perhaps there will come a day when Leo opens up to him, getting the feeling that the pranks he and his brother do are for some sort of recognition they yearn to have. _"They're seeking the wrong kind of attention if they continue doing this." _Such a thought nearly propels him to blurt out his concerns, but he forces it down with the shake of his head. "_Some other day,"_ he assures himself.

Today might've been the one and only chance he had of getting to know one of his students better, but forcing Leo to talk about his troubles when he doesn't want to or isn't ready wouldn't do any good and would only harm their relationship. And also worsen the pranks most likely. But it can't be left at that, it doesn't feel right. Splendid wants to let Leo know that he can trust him, not simply as a teacher but as someone closer to him. Like family...

"You can always confide in me whenever you feel the need to, Shane as well. You two can think of me as your older brother..or something, I'll always be there to listen if you need me." Mr. Sumner tenses with light pink coloring his cheeks, maybe having them refer to him as an older sibling was a little unnecessary. He's uncertain how anyone who's lost people close to them would respond to a statement like that, even though in Leo's and Shane's case it was their parents but it didn't really make much of a difference to Splendid.

"..Older brother huh..." Leo mumbles, a faint smile creeping up on his face. "Thought you were gonna say somethin' creepy like dad, then I would've turned you down and reported you."

The bluenette relaxes releasing a quiet breath, relieved that Leo took what he said well enough to joke afterwards.

The two complete their task ten minutes later, the sky is leisurely being colored in a yellow-orangish hue.

"Ugh, fiiinally done." Leo slams his pen down with an exhausted sigh of relief, slumping back against his chair. His hand feels so numb that he can barely move it.

Looking pleased with their progress, Mr. Sumner stacks the papers back into a single pile, then stands up. "Thanks for the help, would've taken me until nightfall had I done all this by myself." However he feels the need to check and see if Leo had graded his set of quizzes properly, it's more work but it's unprofessional to give a student their work back incorrectly graded. He places the chair back where he'd gotten it from, then carefully scoops up the papers in his hands and moves them to his desk.

"Your fault for givin' it to us in the first place," Leo points out rolling his eyes. "So what's my reward? My service don't come free, not even for a teacher."

Mr. Sumner snorts, gently setting the papers down before laughing. He inches towards the computer, bending down and grasping the mouse to examine the two new emails he'd received from his colleagues a few minutes ago. "I'm already going to change the 0 you have for the quiz, so there's your reward right there."

Leo blinks blankly, he had forgot. "Oh yeah, damn I was gonna have you buy me dinner." But then flips his teacher off with his unaching hand when the man laughs again. Leo grabs and returns his pen back into his pocket, he sits up and stretches. "So now what?" He grunts when his bones pop.

"You can go home," Mr. Sumner says, typing while still standing.

Lowering his arms, Leo suddenly grins as he rises onto his feet. "You're gonna end up lookin' like an old man if you keep hunchin' over like that." He walks to the front.

"I'm fine, was just sitting down not too long ago," Mr. Sumner says, not letting the pain in his back show.

Leo's smile doesn't weaken, only broadens. "Yeah, but when's the last time you sat in your own chair, hmm? Oh I think I know, it was-"

"Go home Leo."

Leo lets out a loud laugh as he exits the classroom, closing the door halfway.

Splendid shakes his head once he's gone, his cheeks once again pink. He won't ever forget that incident with him being glued to his chair, he stayed stuck to it for so long that a janitor, who was surveying the building before locking it up had found him and miraculously pried him off of the seat, and that was _nearly_ close to nighttime. Splendid was pissed, more so at his suit than almost having to spend the night at school. It was one of his favorites and it took weeks to get the dried glue off, _weeks_.

Shuddering, Splendid looks down at his dark blue rolling chair, it's cushion bare of any sticky substance that will trap him to it. He shakes his head with a chuckle, and sits down.

**(A/n: I hope you enjoyed and expect more HTF fics in the future)**


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